MY FIRST TRIATHLON!

January 1st, 2009- New Year's Day I made the usual resolution to get back into shape. With my "baby" no longer a baby, I still had weight to lose and just wanted to feel better. I signed up for a Fusion class at my gym and got going. The class was 5 days a week of rotating cardio, weights, intervals, etc. I slowly began looking forward to my workout time with a friend that signed up with me. I always dreaded exercise and thought my sisters were crazy for always talking about their need to be at the gym. Well, after that 8 week fusion class, I hadn't seen the results I had hoped for, but it did give me the motivation and desire to incorporate exercise into my daily schedule! So where did I go from there? Sign up for a triathlon of course!! It sounded like a great goal and my background is swimming so that would be the easy part. I had become hopelessly addicted to my new spinning class and thought working on running would be a challenge I was up to. There were already a few gals at the gym who had signed up and encouraged me to join them. Before long my 2 sisters were on board and we had a great team to start training together!! We printed up a training schedule (from couch potatoe to triathlete in 12 weeks) and went to work.
The first time I tried to run, it wasn't a run. It was jog 30 seconds, walk a few min. and repeat. I was terrible and worried I wouldn't be able to complete the sprint distance in the triathlon of 2 miles. Each time I ran, I tried to run a little more and walk a little less. With a great team for motivation, before long I was running a whole mile without stopping. I got stronger and the knee pain and foot aches started to go away. Each time I pounded the pavement, it got just a little bit easier.
Now for the bike- I loved my spin class and our instructor is awesome. I started asking about her road bike and she actually offered to lend me her older bike to use to train to see if I wanted to invest in one myself. It was wonderful!! The transtion from spinning to road biking was harder than I thought and we dropped spinning when we really started training. We rode together on the St. Tammany Trace and did 15-20 miles each time we went out there. There was definately a learning curve with road biking and I suffered my first fall with my feet clipped into the pedals. Luckily I wasn't hurt beyond bruises that healed and I learned a lot that day.
August 2, 2009- The RocketChix Triathlon at LSU in Baton Rouge.
All of us girls got a hotel the night before because we are an hour and a half from Baton Rouge. We ate dinner the night before and helped calm each others nerves. It was great to have the team support, not to mention my 2 sisters there as well. We got up very early and were checked in and ready to set up our transitions by 6 am. 7am we lined up by the pool for our swim start and we were ready to go. My twin sister was 4th in the pool, followed by me, and my little sister right behind me with some of the fastest seed times. I was surprized at how hard it seemed and adrenalin got the best of me. Lap 3 my breathing was terrible and I struggled to catch my breath and find my rhythm. As I neared the end of the 350 M I wondered what I had gotten myself into. Out of the pool and headed for T1 I felt renewed and excited as I heard my family cheering me on and was all smiles to get ready for the bike. I made up good time on my twin getting transitioned and thank my you tube videos for showing me how to do that! (the girls arent' making fun of me now :) On my bike I was right on pace with my little sis and feeling confident. Mile marker 2 hit and ssssssssssssssss, what a FLAT TIRE!! 12 weeks of training and I never had a flat. NOT TODAY! I was devistated. Fortunately the Bike shop that sponsored the race had guys on the course who "happened" to be right behind me. Before I could even panic they were out of their truck and changing my tire for me. I could not have finished the race without them! They ended up having to change 2 tire for me as the rim was damaged and popped the new tube right after they changed it. about 8 minutes later, I was back on my bike but feeling so sad that my sisters were long gone.
Transitioning to the run was lonely as my family had heard my tire was flat and left the area to come rescue me not knowing I had been helped and was on my way. I found my legs only after struggling the first mile. I ended up right on pace with another gal in the race and we ran the last mile together. As she ran she shared her inspiring story of running for her mother who had just passed away. The second mile seemed easier with a buddy to share it with. As I neared the finish line, I felt motivated to give it my all and crossed the finish line with a great sense of accomplishment! As soon as I finished, my mind quickly flashed to what the next triathlon would be, wanting so bad to know what could be if I didn't have a flat.
Flat tire and all though, I finished in 1 hour 26 minutes, 4 minutes under my goal.


Our team was awesome and we all formed a bond that I think will continue for years to come. We are already looking forward to our next triathlon to start training for! Here are some picutres from the day!

Stacey(mytwin),susan, lindsay, me, steph(my little sis)
our team minus rebekah, she avoided all the pictures

me and stacey warming up before the race

my sister designed a logo for our team and we had tanks and banners made. it was great! here is me in the pool.

transition 1

Smiling after we fininshed!

WE DID IT!!!

what a week!

it has been a crazy week and just wanted to pop in and update my blog. we spent a week in branson, mo with granny and grandaddy and i just got home today from my first triathlon in baton rouge, la. here are 2 pics from the past week and i will post more later when i get upacked and recover from our crazy week!!

show us your life...it's friday!!!

This week is show us your life friday and if you have no clue what I'm talking about, hop on over to kelly's blog to see what it is all about. I LOVED the home tours and am thrilled about all the other themes that will be hosted! This week is wedding dress preview! YEAH. Has it really been 8 years since I wore this amazing dress?? Yep, next month we will celebrate 8 years of wedded bliss, (with some not so blissful moments in there too). :)

I had my wedding portraits taken in City Park in New Orleans. Unfortunately it wasn't the best photo shoot. First, my veil blew off and into the muddy water of the second picture when I was on the bridge. Then is started pouring down rain and we had to take all of the pictures inside. I was very disappointed and only have 1 or 2 pictures that I like from that day.

I

I had to opt for straps and scoop next front dress, (instead of my dream dress that would have been strapless just like hers, because when I get nervous I break out in red, splotchy hives on my chest and shoulders and didn't think that would look too good in my pictures!)


we won't go into the drama that occured when I saw my ORANGE flowers the day of the wedding and burst into tears because that was NOT what I had ordered. It was all I could do to dab my mascara and take this awful picture with the gladiolas that should have gone to a funeral home. But at the end of the day I was still married to the man of my dreams so I got over it.

sorry for the poor quality pictures. well before the digital craze, these pics had to be scanned in, (the horror), and just didn't come out very well!

Here I am with my twin sister (left) and my little sister! Don't they look beautiful?!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

photoshop class homework!

I've been taking an online photoshop class and I love it!! Wanted to pass on the info for all of you out there who like taking pictures like me but just don't have the eye like becky or mcmama. Or you may want to hop over to maggie's blog and check out her amazing photo actions you can buy to apply to your photos to make them look great!! This first picture is one I did using maggie's extreme color pop action for photoshop elements 7.0. LOVE it!

If you are feeling a little brave, like I apparently was when I signed up for the class, you can jump over to jessica's site and be wowed and amazed like I was. I am 6 days into an amazing class called textures and special effects and am floored at all you can do with photoshop elements. (she has it for the big photoshop too!) I am a slow learner and the class has already concluded for this session but I am still plugging along at my own pace. She has a ton to choose from and I lucked out and got in on a FREE class thanks to elias' mommy who advertised it!

This is lesson 6 with a combination of several different effects used together! Loved the pics from last year's christmas card attempt photo shoot so I decided to bring back a few old ones to work on! What do you think? I am so excited I can't stand it. Just what I need, another reason to be on the computer!

Same concept, different look, took all of the color out of this one! Still experimenting here.

Vintage look with hand tinting, bringing back color in lips! Logan wasn't happy about being my subject that day but you would never know from this ralph lauren look, huh?!

Stamping and adding text, just grabbed any picture to work with for the word celebrate!

frames and borders. still have a long way to go, took some color liberties with this one and I think he looks pale and unhealthy, will have to work on that a little.




This one was adding texture after working with turning it sepia!

And that, my friends, is 2 weeks of hard work and still so much more to learn!

wordless wednesday

Blog Hop, The Easiest Mexican Dip EVER (and it's fabulous)

Mexican Layer Dip

1 container (16oz)Lite Sour Cream

1 packet Taco seasoning

1 can refried beans

1 small jar medium salsa (i use Pace picante)

2 cups grated cheese (i use mexican blend pre grated)

1 small can diced green chiles

mix the taco seasoning in the sour cream, set aside

mix the salsa in with refried beans to desired consistency ( i use most of the jar)

In a 9x13 pan layer the refried bean mixture in the bottom

then the sour cream and taco mixture next,

followed by the cheese and green chiles

(optional: add black olives and tomatoes if desired)

place in fridge and serve with tortilla chips or freetos

YUMMY! and so easy!

uugghhhh...

update

jackson had a 4 hour nap this afternoon only to wake up and crawl into my bed. I went to work out and left him with daddy. When I got home jackson was sound asleep in my bed and hadn't moved since I left. When I woke him up he complained that he was just too sleepy and asked to go back to bed. I started to get worried that he was so lethargic. We forced some fluids in him but he still refused to eat, actually gagging when we made him put a cracker in his mouth. So daddy unfortunately put his work skills to use and gave him an IV with some fluids to help perk him up. He still has a fever and just can't seem to shake this.

Just as we got jackson settled and to bed, Logan started complaning that his tummy and back hurt. We chalked it up to needing attention since big brother was getting so much being sick and gave him a bath and put him to bed. After Logan asked me to rub his belly, I could see that he really wasn't feeling good. He then sat up in bed and puked the entire contents of lunch and dinner that had been sitting in his tummy. A trip to the tub while daddy cleaned up the mess (thank you daddy) and logan spiked a fever and started with chills and chattering teeth. All I can say is being a parent is the hardest but most rewarding job there is. I just need to babies to get better soon! Thank you Jesus that my migraine responded quickly to medicine and I was able to nap with the boys this afternoon and am feeling much better.

sick kids, i have a migraine today, 11 days to go until my triathlon, this isn't shaping up to be one of the best weeks. hopefully we can all recover quickly. jackson is having an awful time with the croup, ear infection and medicine that makes him nauseated. He hasn't eaten real food since last wednesday and we are trying to push fluids as much as possible. He crawled to my room this morning because he said his legs weren't working (leg cramps again) so I am sitting on the couch forcing sips and chips every few minutes to get some fluids into him. All this while logan tries to navigate the finer art of construction with lincoln logs. Why can't kids just "play" and not get shown how to do everthing. he isn't doing very well with teaching himself. Anyway, I'll be back when everyone is feeling better!!